Black Cat: Origins
by feliciahardyxx
Summary: When tragedy strikes the beautiful Felicia Hardy, a new masked character takes to the streets of New York: Black Cat. But is she hero? Or villainess? And what will Spider-Man do about the beautiful girl stalking the streets of his city?
1. Prologue

"Felicia! Come downstairs! Your father is home!"

Ten-year-old Felicia Hardy put down her crayons and ran from her playroom with excitement. Having been gone for two weeks, her father was finally home from his sales call. Equal to her excitement for seeing her father was her excitement to see what he brought home for her. He always brought her all kinds of pretty things.

"Dad! You're back!" Felicia ran down the stairs, her long black curls bouncing down her back from her exuberance.

"And I brought you something even better than the last time!" Walter Hardy's face was lit up to see his daughter. His almond shaped green eyes, the same ones he passed down to his only child, glinted mischievously, and his smile was beaming. Walter had always been an attractive man, with full dark hair (now graying substantially) and sharp, rugged features. His daughter, and the object of his greatest love, was almost his spitting image, but with her mother's full lips and rose hued cheeks.

"Show me show me show me!" Felicia, too big and already tall for her age, leapt into Walter's arms, sending him staggering back into the door. Pauline Hardy laughed.

"Don't knock him down! If he breaks a hip and we have to bring him to the hospital then you won't get to see what he brought you until tomorrow. And I won't get to give him my 'welcome home' present I have waiting for him upstairs." Pauline's suggestive comment went over Felicia's head but Walter's face filled with color and he gave his stunning wife a smirk.

"We'll get to that. But first I have to show Felicia…this!" Walter reopened the front door and brought in a small traveling cage. Inside was a beautiful black kitten, with eyes the same shade of green as Walter's and his daughter's. Felicia gasped with excitement, but Pauline's face fell.

"Oh my god, Daddy! You got me a kitten?!"

"Really Walter, I was expecting something a little shiner than a cat. You could have thought to talk to me about this first."

Walter cast another mischievous look, this time at his wife.

"Pauline, she's already in love! Plus you know it's hard for me to keep in touch on my trips." Pauline rolled her eyes at her husband, but couldn't help but smile as Felicia cradled her new friend, mimicking it's purrs.

"Daddy thank you so so so so so much, I love her! She's perfect." Felicia wrapped her arms around her dad and buried her smiling face in his black leather trench.

"Well she's almost perfect. She just needs a collar so people know she has a home. And I happen to have just the thing…." Walter pulled out a sparkling, flawlessly assembled diamond collar. Every precious gemstone caught the light so vibrantly that it cast rainbows on the faces of the Hardy family. Pauline's eyes widened as she marveled at the beautiful, and clearly expensive collar. Felicia jumped up and swiped it from her father's hand and began to examine it in earnest.

"Daddy it's beautiful. How many watches did you have to sell to afford this?!" Walter's face darkened for only a moment.

"Lots and lots, sweetheart. But don't worry yourself about stuff like that. And guess what? I sold enough the past two weeks to wrangle up a little something special for your mother too." Walter sidled up to his wife, pulling out a velvet jewelry box. Pauline beamed, and opened the box to find a gold pendant, with a massive ruby in the center. Pauline gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth in appreciation of the necklace, and felt her heart surge with love for her already beloved husband. Walter tenderly brushed the hair back from Pauline's shoulders and clasped the pendant in place. The ruby fell in perfect placement right atop Pauline's generous cleavage.

"Mommy you look so pretty! We all look so pretty!" Felicia put a fist around the beautiful diamond on her necklace, a gift from her father's last excursion, and scooped up her new kitten, twirling around with glee. Pauline embraced her husband and pressed her lips to his in a passionate, heat filled moment.

"I love you sweetheart. You do too much, as always."

"Never, Pauline. Nothing is ever too much." Felicia let her kitty to the ground and gave her parents a huge hug. Walter wriggled out, crouching down to Felicia's size, and held his daughter's face in his rough, worn hands.

"Remember that always, Felicia. Nothing is ever too much for the ones you love. And never settle for second rate. That's why I always nick the finest of gems."


	2. Chapter 1: Brink of Tragedy

Felicia was putting the final touches on her makeup for that night's date. One more swipe of her favorite YSL 24kt gold lip-gloss would bring her lips to their max level shiny perfection. She took a step back and admired her reflection in her vanity mirror. Twenty-one year old Felicia had definitely been genetically blessed by her parents. Figure-wise, she had her mother's full bosom, tiny waist, and slender long legs. Her bright green eyes, with her winged liner and shimmery gold shadow popped with the contrast of her jet black hair, which was now long enough to graze her butt.

That night was her third date with Ryan, another senior at Empire State University. They had met in the internship program, both having been awarded coveted positions working in the technological weaponry sector at Oscorp Industries. Being seniors, they actually got to do some hands on weapons development…which lead to hands being put on other things. Ryan said he'd never seen hair so beautiful as Felicia's jet black mane, and his playing with it while she was trying to weld a connector port shut lead to a full blown make-out session that almost set their lab on fire. But they slowed down since then, taking the almost fire as a sign to take things more slowly, and perhaps grab dinner a few times before plunging into anything.

"What do you think, Ceridwen?" Felicia ran a hand over her precious black cat and it mewed in response.

"I agree, I think this dress is perfect. I can't believe it was on clearance too. If it was full price I would have had to steal it!" she joked, cradling Ceridwen in a warm embrace.

"Megs! Come tell me what you think about this dress!" Felicia called for her roommate Meghan. The purple haired bartender swung into the room and gave a glassy eyed appraisal of her friend.

"I mean I'm super drunk, even though it's only the pregame, but from what I can tell through my crossed eyes you look fantastic. I appreciate how much cleavage you're showing. It is the third date after all…."

"Meg. I have no intention of sleeping with him tonight. In fact I don't even know how I'm feeling about this whole thing. Like it was hot when we hooked up at work, but is it really a good idea to be an item with a coworker? Plus he's kind of an asshole."

"First of all, sweetheart, you love assholes. It's your thing. And second of all, so what? You're only interns. Plus only one of you is gonna get that job, so it's not like you'll be coworkers for much longer. We're almost graduated, remember?" Meg was rifling through Felicia's jewelry drawer looking for something.

"Well that's even more awkward. Obviously I'm gonna get the job, they'd be stupid to pick him over me, no offense to him or anything. But still. Not sleeping with him yet, if at all. Plus having to wait is destroying him, I can see it in his attitude. Serves him right for thinking I was gonna fuck him right there at work. I mean come on, have some sort of decorum. It's a workplace." Meg snorted, giving Felicia a look.

"Listen that was one time and you know better than anyone that people that work in restaurants are almost there exclusively to hook up with each other. Hey! Put that back, you can't wear that tonight. You're too drunk, you'll lose it." Meghan had in her hand the gold and ruby pendant her father had given to her mother eleven years ago. When her mother passed away a couple years later, it had been passed down to her. There was no way she was letting such a prized possession be lost at some dive bar in Alphabet City.

"Not for me, you twat," Meg responded irreverently. "For you, obviously. It is gonna go perfectly with that dress." Felicia took the pendant from her friend's hand. Ceridwen rubbed against her hips, purring at the necklace.

"See? Even the cat likes it." Felicia studied the pendant with sadness. It had been six years since her mother disappeared and then had been found murdered. The flood of pain comes back every time Felicia thought of her. No one had ever solved her mother's murder case, but the now deceased Captain Stacy of the NYPD had been very specific in saying that it was 100% a targeted killing. The evidence in the coroner's report suggested that she was tortured for a period of maybe twelve hours before she was killed and her body dumped into the Hudson. Her father had never been the same, and began disappearing for months at a time, leaving Felicia at home alone with Ceridwen, taking care of herself through most of high school. He'd become a harsher man, paranoid, reckless, and stern. Tears began to come to Felicia's eyes, but she choked them back and took a sip out of the wine glass Meghan was handing out to her.

"Don't think about that stuff, Leesh. Tonight's gonna be a fun night, not a time for hard memories." Meg gave Felicia a hug, and clasped the pendant around her roommate's neck.

"See? You look perfect. What time is dinner?"

"Thanks, doll. You're the best. And I'm supposed to meet him there at 8, but I have to swing by Professor Rok's office to ask him to look over my assignment. Needs some editing. But that'll be quick."

"Well you better hurry if you're gonna make dinner on time. Come to Mama's Bar when you're done, we'll have a couple of drinks."

"Megs, I'm still reeling from last weekend with you."

"It was fun and you know it."

"Yeah, but tonight let's try to keep it tame?"

"Ugh, fine. Kay I'm out, text me later." Meghan tipsily pranced from the room, slamming the door to their apartment on the way out. Felicia took one final look at herself in the mirror, grabbed her purse and essay for her professor, and with a final pat on the head for Ceridwen, was on her way.

Felicia knocked twice on her professor's office door.

"Come in!" said a voice, which was not her professor's. Brows knit in confusion, Felicia opened the door.

The boy sitting behind Professor Rok's desk looked about 25, probably a grad student. He had thick brown hair and warm, golden brown eyes. He was handsome, but boyish, and a little bit scruffy. Tall and lean muscled, he was definitely eye catching, but in a very understated way. He didn't look familiar to Felicia.

"Can I- ehem, can I help you?" The boy flushed, trying hard to keep his glances at the beautiful young lady furtive. He shuffled papers around on his desk and scrambled to put on his black frames. Felicia smirked, appreciative of the cute older boy's attraction to her.

"Yes, I was just looking for Professor Rok. I was supposed to come to his office hours tonight to revise my essay with him. Is he not here?"

"No, um, I'm his T.A, I'm doing his office hours tonight. I didn't know he had an appointment with anyone, I'm sorry. It wasn't on his schedule. So sorry."

"Please, it's not your fault, no need to apologize so much! Um, so should I just reschedule, or-" The boy stood, almost so quickly it seemed superhuman.

"No please! This is why I'm here, I'd be more than happy to help you revise. Please, have a seat," he said pulling a chair around next to his.

"Oh, well great! Thank you. I don't have a lot of time, I'm supposed to meet someone for dinner, and I really only have a few questions anyway, if that's okay." Felicia sat in the chair next to the young man, who smelled of fresh laundry and fresh baked cookies.

"I'm Felicia Hardy, by the way," she said, extending her hand to him.

"Peter Parker. Hey- your name sounds familiar- do you work at Oscorp by any chance?"

"Yes actually! Well no, actually, I'm just an intern so far."

"Small world, my roommate is Harry Osborn. He mentioned your name- said you came up with a new way to solder the joints on that biomechanical armor they're devising."

"No way! Kind of surprised I caught someone that high up's attention! But hey, if you're his roommate, you should put in an extra good word for me," Felicia joked. Peter laughed. He had a charming smile.

"Yeah, absolutely. I'll tell him the beautiful Felicia Hardy needs to be hired permanently right away." Felicia blushed, grinning coyly. Peter blushed in response and cleared his throat.

"Alright. Essay. Let's get down to it."

They finished up rather quick, Peter having been very helpful.

"Thank you so much, Peter. I think it's piecing together a lot better now that we moved those paragraphs around some."

"Yeah well you started with a really solid essay, I just changed the structure a bit. You'll definitely get an A, he's gonna like this a lot."

"Thank you so much again," Felicia extended her hand to Peter, to shake it again before leaving. Peter grasped her hand and held it for a moment.

"Hey, this is probably a little bit forward, but you're stunning, as you know," Felicia blushed, "and I just um…well I'm finally moving on from my last relationship…it's been hard you know, Gwen, she um…oh God I'm rambling," he laughed nervously, dropping her hand and running his through his thick hair. Something clicked in Felicia's memory. Captain Stacy's daughter had been named Gwen and she had a boyfriend named Peter, this must be him. She felt a rush of empathy for Peter, given it was only a year's anniversary of the girl's death, and because she knew how hard it was to lose someone you love so dearly.

"It's fine- I knew Gwen- well not personally but her father helped my father and I with a difficult time, and if she was anything like him I'm sure she was lovely. I know how difficult it is letting go of someone that was so important to you." Peter gave her a sad half smile.

"Thank you. Well I fucked that up, didn't I? Couldn't have just asked you out like a normal person. I had to get all sob story on you." Felicia laughed.

"It's fine, Peter, don't be embarrassed for being genuine." Felicia shuffled uncomfortably. "It's- I just started seeing someone…actually? I'm sorry, bad timing, I guess." Peter gave her a forlorn grin.

"I understand. I shouldn't have expected a girl as pretty as you to be single anyway. But hey listen, I'll talk to Harry for you and see what I can do about securing your position there!" Felicia beamed at him.

"That's so kind of you! You really don't have to do that- it's too much!"

"Nothing's too much for people that deserve it. Good luck, Felicia, it was nice meeting you. Enjoy your night!" Felicia gave Peter a warm smile and a wave and made her way out of the office and headed on towards her date.

Felicia was 20 minutes late, and when she got to the fancy seafood restaurant, Ryan was outside smoking a cigarette with a scowl. She trotted up to him and went to give him a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Ry, I got stuck in a meeting with Professor Rok, I didn't know it would take so long-" Ryan stood stiffly, not hugging her back.

"Professor Rok is here with his wife having dinner. So what were you really doing?" Felicia paused, startled by his demeanor.

"Oh well, I mean I went to see Professor Rok, but it ended up just being his T.A. He helped me with my essay and then I came straight here!"

"That Parker dude?"

"You know him?"

"Eh, I've seen him around." Ryan stomped out his cigarette. "You know what? I'm not feeling dinner tonight. Let's go to the bar."

"What? I haven't eaten yet, I'm starving."

"Well they always have pretzels on the bar at 'The Fat Cat', we'll go there."

"Ryan…I'm dressed for dinner, not for a shady dive. Speaking of, thanks for commenting on how I look, not like I spent two hours getting ready."

"Two hours is a long time. But yeah, you look hot. And chill with the attitude, we're not even anything serious right now; it's not like you're my girlfriend and can bitch at me cause I'm not taking you to dinner." Felicia glared at him angrily.

"Babe, babe, I'm sorry, but it's true. It's a little early in our relationship for you to get so sassy with me. Come on let's go out, it'll be fun." He grabbed Felicia's hand and kissed it. Felicia was pissed at him, but shrugged and let him lead her down the street to the bar. After all, she was all dressed up. She might as well kill some time before meeting up with Meg at Mama's. And maybe Ryan was just being aggressive because he was jealous that she was spent time with the cute Peter Parker, even if it was just in an academic sense. Maybe he's not the asshole he just made himself to be.

Felicia had a couple of drinks at the bar, and became progressively more annoyed at Ryan, who was flirting with another Empire State student that happened to be there as well: redheaded Mary Jane Watson.

"How dare he. Blow me off for dinner and then take me this dump to ignore me and hit on a ginger? Is this kid for real?" Felicia thought, sending a quick "See you in a half hour" text to Meg.

"Ryan, as thrilling as this night has been, I'm gonna head out." Ryan ignored her briefly, waving goodbye and flashing a handsome smile at Mary Jane as she left the bar with her friends. After she exited, he turned to her.

"Are you kidding? We've only been here an hour. It's not even ten."

"Yeah but I'm not really having a good time. You said dinner, then canceled that, and then took me here where you proceeded to flirt with that Watson girl most of the night."

"First of all, Felicia, I wasn't flirting, we were mostly talking about our business class. And second of all, the night is young, we'll have a good time, I promise." Felicia continued to glower. "Listen, your lip-gloss is all askew, I don't know what you did to it, but why don't you go to the bathroom, touch up, and when you come back, let's both be in better moods. I'll order a special cocktail from the bartender, just for you." Felicia glowered at him, but considered the fact that when she'd get to Mama's, Meg would be drunk and Felicia definitely didn't want to be sober alone tonight. One more cocktail, and then she'd be primed and ready to deal with Meg's typical antics. Plus if he's buying….

"Fine. Be right back."

Felicia chugged the Manhattan that Ryan bought her in about three gulps.

"Wow someone's a little eager…I don't think that was a good idea." Ryan said nervously. Felicia felt almost instantly drunk.

"You know what, you're right…it's hitting me fast tonight for some reason." Felicia stood and wobbled, knees almost collapsing.

"I think I need air. God, this is embarrassing, I can usually handle my liquor…." She trailed off, getting very dizzy. Ryan threw money on the bar, and wrapping an arm around Felicia dragged her into the street.

"Into a cab we go," he said, hailing the closest cab.

"Send me to Mama's, Meghan's there, she'll take care of me."

"Absolutely not, I'm taking you home, I'll take care of you."

Felicia, through the haze that was becoming her thoughts, felt a twinge of panic.

"No please, Ryan, I'll just go home alone, it's fine-"

"I won't hear it. Don't worry. I mean I didn't think you'd drink that cocktail so quickly….It'll be fine, this feeling will fade, and…."

And just like that, everything went black.


	3. Chapter 2: Broken Pieces

**Two Weeks Later**

Felicia woke up at 3pm that day. She glanced at the clock and shrugged at it, as if to say, "Whatever, time is irrelevant anyway". Every day that had passed since waking up, discarded, in an alleyway way uptown, had been nothing short of a battle. Felicia felt like she was battling herself, and battling her memories, to leave her be. Leave her. Let her just watch hours on hours of Netflix and spend the rest of the time sleeping.

She crawled out of bed, banging her hip on one of the four posters, and cursed. She was still covered in so many bruises from what Ryan had done. She had a brief flashback to being dragged out of the cab. A flash of Ryan's angry face. A flash of the cab driver arguing with Ryan to just let him take her to the address she had kept muttering barely coherently. A flash of him tearing her dress while dragging her limp body into the alleyway. A flash of feeling him pressed up against her roughly. A flash of hearing "I didn't want it to be like this but it's easier to deal with prudes this way". A flash of feeling him in places she certainly had not agreed for him to be.

Felicia grabbed the snow globe her father had brought back from Switzerland that was on her night table and launched it with ferocity at the wall. It shattered violently, water and fake snow dripping down the wall, and the little plastic skier bouncing off and landing face down a few feet away. Felicia hollowly stared at the skier and noted how similar they were. Blindsided by the violence of a single act and left displaced and unable to recover.

Meg burst into the room suddenly.

"Okay that's enough. You have to tell me what happened. Enough of the moping, enough of the misery, enough of the random smashing things and enough of the Netflix binges. What the fuck happened to you? You haven't been to class in two weeks. Fucking Harry Osborne himself called to find out why you haven't been into work. You look like shit and you've probably dropped 15 pounds. I saw you eat a half of an apple and run to the bathroom to throw up right after. Time to fucking talk and explain yourse-"

"FUCK YOU. How DARE you hurl all this shit at me like this when you have no fucking idea what happened to me?!" Felicia screamed so harshly that her vocal cords felt like they were splitting and the pain brought tears to her eyes. For the first time in two weeks, she actually felt marginally better. The anger was good. The expression of it had her feeling like something was clicking in place inside her.

"Well I only don't know what happened because you refused to talk to me about it! You stumble home at noon the next day looking like you got hit by a train with a hangover to match, after not answering any of my texts and calls and locked yourself in your room! I feel like I've seen you for about an hour total since then. You're shutting yourself away from something, I can tell." Felicia grabbed the closest thing in her reach, a teacup, and hurled it at a wall, yet again. It exploded in a flurry of porcelain and cold, stale Earl Grey. Meg ducked clumsily.

"What the FUCK?!" Felicia collapsed on the floor in a heap and start sobbing heavily. Meg sidled up to her and went to put an arm around her. Felicia yelped and slid away rapidly.

"What is wrong with…." Meg trailed off, something registering in her head. "No. No he didn't." Her voice became softer and her face was etched in simultaneous terror and concern. "Leesh…tell me he didn't."

Felicia only sobbed harder in response, burying her head in between her knees, letting the tears and snot and drool drip onto her legs. She didn't care about ruining the carpet.

Meg's terror immediately morphed into ferocious anger. The fire of her anger catapulted her to her feet.

"How fucking dare he. Are you FUCKING kidding me!" Screaming curses she ran from the room pulling out her cell phone. She didn't return for ten minutes, and in the meantime Felicia continued to sob, weeping for herself for the first time in that two weeks.

It was betrayal of the highest kind. She had been completely blindsided. She felt used, broken, and quite literally thrown into the trash, where she had woken up that morning. He was vile, he was evil, he was Satan embodied. She felt rage and crushing depression and the desire to maim, to destroy, even to kill. She finally let herself feel so much of what had been buried deep inside her since the event. By the time Meg had returned to the room, she had spent all of the pent up emotion and tears, and sat, head leaned back against her bed, her eyes closed in a now rare moment of placidness.

"I was just on the phone with the police, and with my uncle, who's a lawyer. The police told me you never filed a report. My uncle said because you didn't, your options to press charges are limited. It's gonna be hard to prove, and in this fucked up reality the burden of proof in rape cases is on the victim." Felicia flinched hard at the word.

"Please don't say that word. I don't want to think about this anymore. I just want this pain to go away."

"Leesh," Meg returned to her spot on the floor next to her best friend, "the pain isn't gonna go away until you confront it, and maybe not even after that. I know this is the hardest thing you've probably ever dealt with. I can't imagine what you're feeling, what you went through, and I'm hoping to God I never have to. But you have to try to pick some of the pieces of yourself up off the floor and try to put them back together." Meg reached across the floor grabbed the facedown, displaced skier. She held it out to Felicia on an open palm.

"If you fall apart like this, and do nothing to regain your life, you're letting that motherfucking cunt win. And you're not the kind of girl who settles for losing. Ever. I watched you deal with losing a parent, Felicia. I know you're strong enough to get through this. And I know that YOU know it too. Rebuild your life. Start small. And always remember that there are people that are here for you that love you and will do whatever they can for you. I am certainly one of them."

Felicia held the tiny skier in her hands. She was reminded of a story her father used to tell her about a date he and her mom had gone on in their youth. Her mother had skied straight into a tree, and got up and laughed it off. She and her father had gone back to the ski resort and went to the bar for a drink and it was only after her mother took off her ski pants that she realized her leg had been broken. Her mother was like that- strong enough to reject pain. But that was only a broken bone and Felicia's pain felt like a broken soul. She clutched the skier and a few defiant tears seeped out of her eyes. She wished her mother were here to hold her. She wished her father wasn't so distant and broken. She shook those thoughts from her mind. Meg was right. Her parents would be disappointed if she didn't demand retribution for what she had suffered. Her anger and sadness began to stew inside her and change. She felt something deep inside her turn to steel. Resolve.

"You're right. I have to start fixing this. I have to heal. I have to set things right. I need to demand justice for myself. And if your uncle is right and the police can't or won't help me, then I'll take care of it myself."

Felicia's sudden fierceness worried Meg, but she reached out to hug her friend, and this time, Felicia gave in to her embrace.


	4. Chapter 3: Recovery

_Queens-Based Cat Burglar Identified and Arrested_

 _Eddie Brock_

 _On Friday, March 14, 52 year old Walter Hardy was found by police stealing assorted jewelry from Romeo's Jewelry in lower Manhattan, and subsequently arrested and charged with several counts of first degree burglary. Hardy, a resident of Flushing, Queens, is being held at the 7_ _th_ _Precinct jail, waiting arraignment. Upon obtaining a search warrant, police searched Hardy's home and found keys to several safety deposit boxes in Manhattan, Queens, and New Jersey banks, all containing stolen goods amassing to the total of $1.9million. Detectives are in the process of linking the stolen items to their original owners, in order to ascertain how many burglaries were committed._

" _To our current knowledge, Walter Hardy is facing at least 60 separate counts of first degree burglary," said Detective Jean DeWolff of the 7_ _th_ _Precinct in a press conference given late Friday evening. "This is a cold-hearted criminal that police have been after for many years. Thanks to an anonymous tip, we were able to catch Hardy in the act today." Hardy, surviving his late wife, Pauline Hardy, was arrested with a BAC of .18. Since his wife's death eight years previous, Hardy has been a recluse and has had minimal contact with friends and family members. The Daily Globe attempted to contact his 21-year-old daughter Felicia Hardy for comment, but she was unavailable._

Felicia tore the article out of the newspaper viciously, and slammed back her tequila shot. The old man that reeked off Swiss cheese sitting three seats down stared at her with blatant shock, but when she met his gaze with a look of pure rage he quickly dropped his eyes and went back to sipping his Budweiser.

It had been two months since Felicia had been attacked by Ryan. Typical, just as she was making progress in her recovery, life struck again and knocked her back down. She was heartbroken to read of her father's arrest. So many memories from her childhood made sense, in retrospect. All the fancy jewelry…all of it was stolen. Felicia wondered about her mother's necklace and Ceridwen's collar. If she kept it, would she also get in trouble, for knowingly holding on to stolen goods? She didn't want to hand them over to police. They were a part of her personal history. Although now, she supposed, they were more reflective of the lies she was told over and over by her father.

She couldn't be angry with him. Her father was her only family left. And she was sure that everything he did was out of love for her and her mother. Oh shit. Felicia began to wonder if her college education was paid for with stolen money. It had to have been. He couldn't possibly have been a traveling salesman; he must have just been burglarizing the whole time.

Felicia shook herself out of her daze and slammed back the tequila shot the bartender had replaced the empty glass with. She shot another angry look to the old man, and took out her wallet to pay. At that moment, Harry Osborne walked in. The old man stood up straighter, and Felicia's heart rate went up.

Felicia had quit her internship. Well, she hadn't really quit, she more or less just stopped showing up. Harry had left several messages on her phone in the first two weeks asking what happened to her, but she never responded. Even Professor Rok's TA, Peter Parker, called her. "Hey Felicia, we met in Professor Rok's office. Harry gave me your number- I don't mean to be weird but both of us are worried since you haven't returned his phone calls and I just wanted to make sure everything was all right. If you ever need someone to talk to, come by the office during his office hours. I know what it's like going through a hard time and not having anyone to talk to." Felicia thought that was really sweet of him, but she was embarrassed that she never responded to her boss, and calling back weeks later would have made her embarrassment even worse.

"Felicia! What are you doing here?" Harry pulled up a stool next to Felicia, as her face turned bright red. He looked out of place in the dive, with his custom John Varvatos suit and perfectly coifed brown hair.

"Mr. Osborne…look, I really have to go, I'm late for-"

"Felicia. I'll buy you a drink."

"I have to go to the gym, I only stopped in for a coffee and-"

"You liar," he laughed. She finally met his gaze, confused at his affability despite all she'd done. "I can smell the tequila. It's okay. Just sit back down, please. Come on, you owe me an explanation."

Felicia hesitantly sat back down and ordered another shot of house tequila, not chilled, no salt, no lime.

"So…" he began. "Tell me what happened to you!"

Felicia shuddered. "It's kind of personal."

"Hm. That's fair. It had nothing to do with the work? It wasn't something we did, right? You were truly a standout employee and seemed to enjoy it; it was a shock to us all when you stopped coming."

"No it wasn't anything work related….Well actually it kind of was." Felicia took a deep breath. Why should she hide what happened to her? She didn't do anything wrong. She had no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed. She should own her story. Reclaim it. Like she was reclaiming her life. Harry put his hand on top of Felicia's on the bar. Even though she'd been flinching away from human contact for the past two months, somehow this gesture was reassuring and gave her the reassurance to plunge into her story.

When she finished, Harry was agape.

"Oh my God."

"Yeah….I was so defeated after that. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't get out of bed. I should have called you back, I'm sorry. I just didn't have the energy for anything."

"Do NOT apologize, I understand entirely. What kind of person would I be if held that against you? But you'll be interested to know that a week after you left we fired Ryan. We had no intention of giving him the job anyway, and after you left we decided we might as well withdraw the position entirely."

"Good. He didn't deserve that job. I had to show him how to do everything anyway." Harry laughed, still holding Felicia's hand. They both suddenly became aware that they still were touching. Felicia blushed and Harry coughed, withdrawing his hand quickly.

"Anyway, Felicia, that position is still open to you. If you want to come back, call me. I'm not expecting an answer right now- think about it. Here's my personal number," he said, handing over a business card, which he quickly scribbled his cell number on. "And…don't be afraid to call for any reason, even if it's not work related. I'm here to talk if you need me. I always thought you were a good employee and had great respect for your intelligence. You know I'm not science minded at all. When my dad got too sick to run the business, he let me take over, and I still struggle with that responsibility. My friend Peter always says something about responsibility, and it being a great…struggle…or I don't actually remember what he says exactly, but he's right. And I know our conversations in the past have been brief, and work related, except for today, obviously, but you seem like a good person, and maybe we can lean on each other a little bit. It's been rough going for both of us lately, it seems, and I could use a friend. I basically only have Peter and he's always busy doing God knows what."

Felicia smiled. She had always admired Harry from afar for his confident demeanor, and seeing this softer side of him endeared him to her even further.

"I'd like that, Harry, thank you. I'll call you soon, we should get lunch."

"Absolutely," he said with a smile, and gave a quick wave and was on his way.

Felicia left the bar, any happiness from her encounter with her former boss fading quickly as she remembered the situation with her father. Ever since being attacked, her anxiety levels were off the chart. Always lurking under the surface was this feeling of tension, fear, anger, and a violent rage. The faint memories of that night continued to haunt her, and she figured it would never go away. And now with her father going to prison, for what will probably end up being the rest of his life, Felicia felt sicker than ever.

She had to get him out. He was her father, she loved him, and she bristled remembering Detective DeWolff from the news article calling him "cold-hearted". He was anything but. And with his age, being in prison would ruin him. She had to figure out what she could do.

Felicia, a month and a half ago, had begun a rigorous training schedule at a gym near her apartment. Meg was right- she needed to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. And the first thing she was gonna do would be to confront her attacker.

She knew it was ridiculous. And beyond dangerous. She had never been in a fight and had never been particularly strong, but she would change that. She would do whatever she could to become the strongest, most dangerous possible version of herself. She would never be taken advantage of again. She would never be defenseless again. And she would show Ryan just how wrong he was and how big of a mistake it was to fuck with her.

Six weeks of training after she made the decision to turn her body into a weapon, and she had six pack abs that would shock her high school gym teacher that would always yell at her for being lazy, and the arms of Ronda Rousey. She was relentless at the gym. She would go three times a day. It was her only social outing, other than her midday tequila liquid lunch. Two weeks into her attendance at the gym and a personal trainer named Wayne started helping her build muscle. Because it was a fight gym, he also started teaching her all different methods of fighting: judo, MMA, krav maga, boxing, you name it. He even gave her a key to the gym to come practice at night when no one was around. It was then that she'd practice her gymnastics and acrobatics. Using Youtube and library books as a teacher, she tried her best to mimic the dangerous moves, with moderate success, and several slight injuries. If Meg was concerned about the countless black eyes and taped wrists and ankles, she didn't question it. She knew Felicia was resilient and was doing what she felt she had to do.

Felicia figured a few more weeks, maybe a couple of more months of daily training and practice, and she would be ready to confront her pitiful attacker. And then, she would have to figure out something to help her dad.


End file.
